In a divided province, how do guns fit into Saskatchewan life? A Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix multi-part series investigates. Read our full coverage here

From licence holders to safety courses, the number of females with firearms is growing in Saskatchewan — and showing little sign of slowing.

“It’s not an old boys’ club anymore,” says Shawna Bellavance, the general manager for the Saskatchewan Association for Firearm Education.

The number of female firearm licence holders in Saskatchewan has grown steadily over the years. There were 915 female firearms licence holders with registered firearms in the province last year, up from 593 five years earlier.

Bellavance also sees more women taking firearm safety courses through her organization. Back in 2010, roughly 27 per cent of people enrolled in firearms safety courses were women. Now that’s risen to 35 per cent. Bellavance says it’s more common these days for women to want to go shooting with their partners and that, as more women pick up firearms, it causes a snowball effect and encourages other women to do the same.

Similarly, people working in the outfitting industry say women are the fastest growing demographic when it comes to hunting and shooting.

The Saskatoon StarPhoenix met up with some of the province’s licensed female gun owners to discuss what drew them to firearms and what their experience has been as shooters and gun enthusiasts.

Jillian Arthur and Jocelyn Arthur (left to right) take aim with their air pistols at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation’s shooting range just outside Saskatoon. KAYLE NEIS/SASKATOON STARPHOENIX

The Arthur sisters — ages 15, 17, 19 and 20 — got hooked on air rifles and air pistols after their dad signed the oldest girls up for a learn-to-shoot program put on by the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation back in 2010. Since then, the girls have travelled around the world to compete in the sport.

“Our sport’s very accepting for new females coming in … If anyone is interested, it’s a very accepting community that we have with our shooting — for sure in our discipline — but, for any lady in Saskatchewan wanting to try shooting out, please give it a try because it is very fun,” says Aerial Arthur.

Sherri Lynn Usselman takes aim with a hunting rifle in her target shooting shack at her father’s farm in Allan. KAYLE NEIS/SASKATOON STARPHOENIX

Inside her home in Allan, Sherri Lynn Usselman shows off her various pieces of taxidermy collected from around the world. KAYLE NEIS/SASAKTOON STARPHOENIX

Sherri Usselman, 36, shot her first BB gun — a hand-me-down from her older brother — when she was six or seven years old. Since then, she has become an avid hunter and shooter. She’s adept with a compound bow, crossbow, muzzle loader, rifle and shotgun. She has traversed the globe to hunt. Her home in Allan — 62 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon — is full of her trophies, including taxidermied heads of a zebra, white-tailed deer, caribou and South African blesbok.

“A lot of people are surprised by my hobby … Lots of people will stop by my house and they will assume that the male figure in the house has done all the hunting or is the reason for the taxidermy when, in fact, it’s been myself,” she says.

“It’s definitely a man’s world when it comes to that stuff, but I’ve never had any negative comments about it that have been anything that’s really affected my choice to keep doing it.”

Eileen Higgins, 62, owns the Saskatoon Gunsmith Shoppe, which was founded in 1974 by her late husband, Kerry. The couple, who met at a trap shooting event, ran the store together for nearly 40 years until Kerry died in 2015 and Higgins took over the business, located on Avenue C North. Higgins fell in love with firearms at a young age because her dad was an avid outdoorsman and she tagged along with him when he went hunting or to the gun range. Her dad had “a good number of guns,” and she learned about their mechanics by handling and cleaning them.

“I still get some customers that come in — they’re not sure if they should ask me a question about something, whether it’s gunsmithing-related or gun-related, if they’re looking for a part. And I think I usually blow them away because I know what they’re talking about.”

Yolanda Bouzane carries her rifle and shotgun to the range before competing at the Prairie Fire three-gun shooting competition at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. KAYLE NEIS/SASKATOON STARPHOENIX

Yolanda Bouzane prepares her trial run before competing at the Prairie Fire three-gun shooting competition at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. KAYLE NEIS/SASKATOON STARPHOENIX

Yolande Bouzane, 41, fired her first rifle as a sea cadet when she was about 12 years old. She enjoyed the experience, but fell out of shooting for several years after she left the cadets. Not until a group of friends introduced Bouzane to three-gun competition five years ago did she start shooting again. In three gun, competitors are timed as they move through a course while shooting targets with shotguns, rifles and handguns.

“The guys here, they just love to shoot and everybody loves to get along. It’s a very safe, effective sport and they want you to learn, they want to teach people what they know, so I’ve never had an issue with anybody coming from a male-to-female perspective. And I’ve been able to actually educate other women and help other women get into the sport … Female shooters, there’s not a lot of us, so it would be great to have more women come out.”

Rhonda Kincade, 43, started shooting after she met her husband, who is the CEO of the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. He spends a lot of time on the range and Kincade wanted to learn to shoot so she could spent more time with him. Kincade was intimidated the first time her husband took her to the range, but he was a good, patient teacher who ran her through everything from gun safety to range rules. Kincade realized shooting wasn’t scary, at which time she relaxed and enjoyed the experience. She and her husband now shoot rifles, handguns and shotguns year round.

“I notice that (shooting) is very, very, very dominated by men. But every time I go to any type of function where there’s guys, … they come and they help you and they teach you and they think it’s great. They want more women in the sport,” she says. “I find that women are intimidated by it because they just don’t know anything about it. A lot of the city women won’t have that experience with their dad taking them out to shoot. So if you come out, the people are very excited to show you and very welcoming, so it’s not as intimidating as a lot of women think it is.”

When Kincade met with the StarPhoenix this summer, she was kitted out in a shooting vest with the logo “Girls with Guns” emblazoned across the back. She says the fact she was able to find the vest is a sign that more women are picking up firearms.

“They actually have some girls’ shooting vests now which they never did — before they were all big, boxy, old, giant, mesh, brown shooting vests that the guys always wear at shooting trap and skeet and stuff like that,” she says. “There was nothing (for women). You’d just wear your dad’s stuff or your husband’s stuff.”